Part 3: Episode III: Local Hospitality

Ugh… Hey. No way! Uh-uh. I’m not doing an amnesia plotline. Not happening. Where am I?


Music: Feeling of Unease



This is the village of Nive. You were put to sleep and carried back here…
*tries and fails to stand*
Hey! C’mon, give it up… There’s no way you’ll be able to move. You’ve got the magical energy of two magic users restrainin’ you, y’know?
Ugh… Stuff it, Wakka.

Endir manages to get upright…



What the… Looks like you’re no pushover, eh?

The girl with the frog hood jacket from earlier enters…



*shakes head* I’ve been here for two weeks now… Isn’t it about time you remembered my name? I’m…



A future party member, considering we can change her name. And here I thought she was just a random over-designed NPC.



Sorry, Aeterna. Never mind that, though… Look!
What?! How come he can get up?!



A masked tribe who make their living as mercenaries… You’re one of them, aren’t you!? Why did you try to kill Setsuna? Who hired you?
…
For generations, sacrifices from this village have given their lives in order to protect the world. You tried to kill one of those precious sacrifices… Do you even understand just how serious a crime that is?
No.
But you’re probably gonna tell me anyway…
So that’s why you attacked Setsuna. You were unaware of what a terrible mistake you were making…
No… I did it for the fat payday. I just happened to not be too well informed either.
I will protect Setsuna. I won’t let you touch her, no matter what…



Aeterna tops off the magical barrier flattening Endir. I guess nobody in this village has ever heard of a jail cell.



And with that, Aeterna storms off. It’s going to be real awkward when she inevitably joins our party in two minutes.



*sits up* Your dumb town doesn’t even have a jail. You yokels aren’t running a guillotine. Shut up.
…..
C’mon, at least ACT like you care! Talk about emotionless… Anyway, I’m kiddin’. We don’t even have a guillotine here in the village. You got pretty lucky, though… Several of the villagers did actually insist that you be severely punished… The reason you’re still alive now is you had someone to defend you. Do y’know who that was?
*sigh* Lemme guess. Was it the selfless sacrifice in an uncanny act of compassion?
Well, I am surprised… Exactly right. You’re a sharp guy. It was Setsuna who protected you. With the sacrifice herself askin’ us to spare you, no one could exactly argue. What a curious young lady she is… Savin’ the life of the very same person who tried to kill her…
Boy, she’s one of THOSE types, huh? Look… I’m wearing a mask and I can’t move my arms. Just pretend I’m rolling my eyes and making a jerking off motion here…
Once Setsuna is safely on her way, we’ll let you go. That’s what the village chief ended up promisin’ her, y’see. Anyway, until then, you can stay right here.


Music: Deadly Gamble



It’s the monsters! The monsters are attacking again!
What!?
Forget about that house! The only person in there’s the guy who tried to kill the sacrifice!
*sweat* No… but still…
Come on, we need to hurry up and get all the villagers to safety!
And my name is Villager, so you know I’m serious!



Round-Faced Man… I cannot reach my shit list right now. But you’re going RIGHT at the top of it when I get out of this…



The Round-Faced Man abandons his post. There’s immediately a roar so loud it shakes the cottage. So I’m just going to assume he immediately was torn asunder by an angry swarm of vicious penguins.





Hey, Setsuna is here and she’s going to release us from our magical prison like a dope. Also, apparently those giant rings in her hair are actually chakrams. There has… got be a better sheath available for those…





And with that Setsuna runs off. Welp, they neglected to disarm Endir when they knocked him out and captured him. I suppose it’s time for take two on the whole assassination attempt thing, right? But first, maybe let’s head outside and see what all the fuss is about…



Letting him go…
What do you mean!? We can’t just set a criminal free!
Hey, innocent until proven guilty, lady.
Were you trying to kill Setsuna?
Yes.
*baffled cringe*
He has yet to commit any crime. We can’t leave him here to die!
Yeah, that’s basically murder. Not cool.

A Waloompa slides into frame like Kramer, roaring its head off…



See! This guy gets it.



All right… If you want to live, draw your sword, and help protect Setsuna!
Fiiiine. I don’t get paid if she gets eaten by an off-brand walrus anyway.



And so we gain our first new party member. Setsuna will just be standing on the sidelines for this one don’t worry, she’ll join in five minutes.


Music: No Turning Back



Now then, time for battle. Endir is still a little beat up from his brief trek through the woods. But that’s fine. We’re not going to be facing anything too challenging initially and we have a second party member. Let’s check out Aeterna’s abilities.



Our new companion is the speedier but somewhat physically weak female party member archetype. She attacks with twin blades. That’s two hits for 9 HP of damage each displayed above, not 99. For reference, Endir is doing around 25-30 HP of damage a strike with his physical hits.





Despite displaying an affinity for magic in literally both cutscenes we’ve seen her in thus far, Aeterna does not, in fact, have any magic attacks in battle initially. Her only Tech is Charge, which is a physical attack where she err… charges into the enemy. This attack will hit all enemies in a line between Aeterna and her target. But the damage isn’t remarkably high. Charge will also shift Aeterna’s position to right in front of the enemy she has targeted.



While Charge isn’t particular noteworthy, what is special is that Aeterna can team up with Endir to do a combo attack – X-Strike. I am Setsuna just straight up has dual-techs from Chrono Trigger. And… this was the same exact first dual-tech unlocked in that game. Just swap out the Ye Olde English speaking frog knight with an anime girl in a frog hoodie.



X-Strike is by far the strongest attack we’ll have access to for the first few chapters. Especially if it’s buffed with Momentum. Poor monster walrus didn’t know what hit him! Although, I could do without ever seeing Overkill for wrecking enemies again in my life…



*turns to Endir* You help, too!
Sure.
Hmph… Good. At least you’re not arguing back.
Meh… You’d just get pissy and insist I have to help anyway. Let’s just cut to the chase.
Anyway… I’m afraid saying no isn’t an option.
See?
I’ll help, too, Aeterna!
No. You stay hidden, Setsuna!
But…
Don’t worry, it’s fine. I’m going to protect you!
…
Let’s go! If you try to run, I’ll kill you… so watch your back!
_{Uh-huh… Try to pull that again when you’re not in a cutscene.}
What was that?
Meh… nothing.







Our goal now is to run around town taking out all the marauding penguins and walruses trespassing on private property. There’s not really a lot of urgency here because… I mean c’mon. Teens trampling in your yard due to Pokémon Go is probably more of a threat. None of these enemies are any more resilient than the ones Endir was soloing back in Dazzshire Woods earlier.

A half dozen dead Pengy and one more slain Waloompa later…



*looks around* Phew… Seems there was no real damage to the village, either.
No! Don’t say stuff like that. That’s just gonna make the bos—


Music: Deadly Gamble





You just HAD to be all “I guess it’s over”, didn’t you?



Of course.
These are real battles. Not some cutscene crap where I get owned in a fade to black. I’ve got this.
What are you even going on about?
Forget it! I’m fine. Let’s go.
*nods* Hmph… Glad to hear it. Get yourself ready… this one isn’t like the others. Being a little tired out is no excuse, either… We must protect Setsuna, even if it costs us our lives…
I’d debate that but now’s not the time.
Don’t say that!



Setsuna rolls in with the full party HP/MP restore that only occasionally exists in cutscenes. That sure would be a nice ability to actually learn in any RPG.



*nods* Thank you… Now I don’t have to worry about anything except fighting.
*shakes head* I don’t want you risking your lives! I’m going to fight, too!
What are you talking about, Setsuna!? I’ll protect you, so just…
That’s right, Aeterna. I need you to protect me.
Exactly, so…
So if you die here, how will you be able to do that? In order for you to be able to protect me, Aeterna… right now, I need to protect you!
Don’t be ridiculous!
I’ve made up my mind.
…..
Looks like nothing I say is going to make any difference… Just promise me you’ll run away if it gets too dangerous.
I will… together with you!
Yeah, great. Either you two make-out already. Or you get in here and be the party’s white mage. Let’s do this thing.



And now we have our second addition to the party, just in time for this chapter’s first boss battle.


Music: Relentless Advance



Meet the first proper, non-tutorial boss of I am Setsuna: Whitewind. It comes sporting around 300ish HP and is by far the strongest creature we’ve faced thus far.





Right off the bat, Whitewind can use Wingslice which will hit twice for 15-20 HP of damage. The initial spacing in this battle is a bit weird. Aeterna is considered to be far enough to the left of Endir that any attacks striking her will miss him.



But an attack targeting Endir or Setsuna will likely hit both of them, since they’re considered bunched close enough together to be on the same plane. We could adjust Endir’s position by using Cyclone but ehh… that’s a waste of MP.



As a Momentum buffed X-Strike will do way the hell more damage than Endir or Aeterna can pull off with any singular attack. So their strategy for this fight will be to just build up their SP and perform X-Strike when both are ready.



Two X-Strikes is enough to take Whitewind down to 50% health, at which point it’ll buff its attack power with Inhale.



From there, the overgrown pigeon will start breathing fire. This will hit either Endir and Setsuna or Aeterna and Endir, as it moves in a half-circle arc. Our party might be getting a bit beat up by now. But that’s what Setsuna is for…





Setsuna comes equipped with a potent Cure spell, because of course she does. Being the female healer archetype, Setsuna’s physical attacks are complete crap but she’s good with magic. For the duration of this fight, Setsuna will just hang out building up her SP gauge and casting Cure accordingly. Momentum boosted Cure spells will boost Setsuna’s ATB gauge, she can continue the healing train as Endir and Aeterna keep up the X-Strike parade.







And that’s just about all there is to this battle. Whitewind did have one more attack where it dive-bombs the entire party for about 40-50 HP of damage but… I killed it too quickly. Whoops!





The Boss Bird gives enough experience to boost both Setsuna and Aeterna to Level 3 while Endir jumps to Level 4. And that nicely restores everyone to full after the battle. Plus we’ve got a handful of feathers and an egg for a future omelet. All in all, good work team.


Music: Feeling of Unease



Don’t bother trying to resist.
Hmph. …Really? We’re still doing this?
Murder of a sacrifice is a very grave crime. Even if it was only an attempted murder, we can’t just let you walk. The only reason you’re alive now, rather than inside a monster’s stomach…
Is that I helped stab all the monsters to death? Like we just did?
Is that the sacrifices keep the monsters at bay, and stop them becoming more ferocious. If it wasn’t for them… Everywhere would have been overrun by monsters a long, long time ago. You almost doomed all of mankind to certain death!
That’s not my problem.
Heck, that sounds like more work for me. Mercenary has gotta eat.
No, of course it isn’t. You are welcome to live out your life in your own narrow little world. Just as long as you don’t get in Setsuna’s way, that is. If you’re still think about trying something, you’ll have me to deal with.
*shakes head* There is no way you could possibly understand… The ritual of sacrifice is repeated over and over again, in order to bring us into the future…



The village elder wanders over to defuse the situation. And look, he’s brought pleasant music with him…


Music: Tender Glow



Before anything else, let me thank you, on behalf of everyone in the village. Now, with regards to what we shall do about you… Truth be told, I too am at a loss.
He needs to be kept restrained until the sacrifice has set off from the village.
Yes… better safe than sorry, I suppose…
Hey, do I get a say in this…?
Please, wait!
What is it, Setsuna?
It’s me who he tried to kill. Please, hear me out. I want you to make him a free man.
Let him go, you mean…?
Hey, she’s the sacrifice lady. I think we should listen to h—
No, not quite. I’d like him to join my guard.
...Aww, beans.
We can’t do that… He’s too dangerous!
*sucks teeth* Yeaaaaaah. I’m pretty dangerous and that sounds like a REAL bummer…
If he’s so skilled that you think he’s dangerous, surely he’ll make a very reliable companion… The sacrificial pilgrimage is not an easy journey. The more people we have on our side the better… Right?
I mean… technically… I guess? Meeeeh…
No matter what you say, I’m still against it… We’d be putting ourselves close to a man who’s even more dangerous than the monsters…
If it’s my life you’re after, then please see the pilgrimage through to its end. If I complete my duty as a sacrifice, that should also fulfill your goal… My death.
So? What say you? In light of your having protected our village from the monsters, we shall respect your decision. Will you remain here in the village until Setsuna departs on her pilgrimage… Or will you leave on her journey together with her, as part of her guard. There is still time until their departure. Once you have made up your mind, come to my house. Mine is the northernmost house in the village. I shall be looking forward to hearing your reply!



Hmm… A swordsman in an unfamiliar land not quite sure of what is going on being pressed into becoming a guardian for a selfless teenage girl’s pilgrimage to a distant forbidden land on a suicide mission to ward off monsters. I… Wait… Fuck… I know this one…



Shit! Abort the LP. I already did this one! I’m out! I’m turning back!







Aeterna Character Art – The frog hoodie is cute and all, but maybe you could have invested in a jacket with sleeves instead of strapping several layers of shit to your arms? Just a thought.




Video: Whitewind Boss Battle